The Sidewalk Debate Continues

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The debate about how the city implements sidewalk requirements in the future has been a point of contested debate on the Oskaloosa City Council for several years, but has come to a focused conversation in the past few months.

On Monday night, the council moved into motion a 3rd option that was presented to them for sidewalks within Oskaloosa.

17.08.120 – Required Public Sidewalk

  • A. Public sidewalk shall be required for the following:1.All new developments in all zoning districts. New developments include, but are not limited to, projects requiring a site plan review, changes in property use type, and all new residential structures.

    2.All redevelopments, enlargements, or extensions of more than twenty-five percent (25%) of either the total property area or gross building area in all zoning districts, except for single-family, two-family, and duplex use types.

    3.These requirements may be waived by the City Council based on a recommendation after Planning and Zoning Commission review in GI (General Industrial), LI (Limited Industrial), and Residential zoning districts.

     

  • B. All new or existing sidewalks required by this section must be constructed, or reconstructed, in concrete and in compliance with current ADA accessibility and meet the local, state, and federal standards.
  • C. Where sidewalks are required by this section but are not adjacent to properties with existing sidewalks, city council shall consider installing sidewalks to connect the new development to existing sidewalks in accordance with the city-adopted sidewalk plan.

Council member Doug Yates asked for clarification in regard to the regulation when in Part 1, it states “not limited to” to new development. Yates wanted to know if there was a way to make the language “clearer” for the council moving forward.

Council member Aaron Ver Steeg said he is still concerned there will be sidewalks to nowhere.

Yates disagreed, saying he believes the option C presented to the council, and the one being discussed took care of the issue.

Ver Steeg asked the council why they couldn’t just develop a 5 year sidewalk plan. “This is going to stop construction in Oskaloosa, or slow it down. We don’t need that.”

“We’ve got a town that’s not growing now”, added Ver Steeg. “We don’t need stuff like this”.

The City of Oskaloosa had once developed a sidewalk plan in 2015 for the walk, run, ride Active Transportation Plan, which helped to develop the Safe Routes to School.

An inventory of existing sidewalks was developed for the 2015 plan. “It did give us a snapshot of where we were missing sidewalks, and where we needed to connect to new or existing [sidewalks]”, said Oskaloosa City Manager Michael Schrock.

Some of that plan is being implemented now, and is visible with sidewalk construction like that going on near the Southern Iowa Fairgrounds. Those sidewalks are part of the Safe Routes to School project.

“I think we are creating a nightmare for the next councils”, said council member Tom Walling in regards to the proposed ordinance.

“We have fumbled this football”, said Walling.

The measure passed on a 4-2 vote from the council, with Walling and Ver Steeg voting no.

Posted by on Oct 19 2016. Filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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